Bruce Roscoe Loc: Arizona

Capturing this Image:
This image was taken in Tombstone at Boot Hill Cemetery following the Tombstone Trolley Ghost and Murder Tour with Parson George and Lee. The cemetery is one of the stops during the tour. At the time this image was taken the sun was setting and the cemetery was about to close. The trolley driver, Lee, who also posed as my model, got special permission to enter the cemetery. The store owner who told us we had only a few minutes to photograph Lee because they wanted to close for the night.
I explained to Lee how I wanted to make his image and how I would like him to pose. My wife, Elaine, helped me set up the equipment before entering the cemetery. We opened my Westcott 6 -in-1 reflector and took out the silver reflector. I installed my Canon 580 speed light on the camera mount and set it to minus one in the manual mode. A good starting point. This speed light allows the flash tube to be turned 90 degrees left or right or straight up.
We walked out through the general store into the cemetery. I found a grave that would work well for this capture. The grave had all the compositional elements necessary to accomplish my vision of this image, which I have titled "So Long Good Buddy." With the foreground composition there was a grave some distance away I also wanted in sharp focus.
I set the f- stop at f:13 with an ISO of 200, and a shutter speed of 125th. Elaine held the reflector at camera right a few feet from our model. By keeping the reflector close to the him, the reflected light wouldn't cause harsh shadows. I knew the inverse square law would come into play which states, "an object that is twice the distance from the point source of light will receive a quarter of the illumination." What this means to a photographer is if you move your subject from 10 feet to 20 feet away from your subject you will need four times more light to get the proper exposed. I could have opened the aperture two additional f-stops and kept the reflector at 10 feet, but the background wouldn't have been as sharp.
The next item to consider was how I want this image to look. What story did I want to tell? I felt if I "short lit" my subject, meaning more light on the side of his face away from the camera, it would bring more drama into the image, and allow more light in the background. This uses a well-known law of physics: the degree of incidence equals the degree of reflection. This means if I aim the head of my speed light at the reflector using a 45 degree angle, the light would bounce off the reflector at that angle resulting in a pleasing effect.
If the light hitting the subject lit too much of the broadside of his face, I would have had to adjust the angle the light bounced off the reflector. The first image looked good but the background was a little too dark. To correct this I dragged the shutter 1/60 to lighten it up more.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Very nicely done.

Sarge

Dr Rae Loc: Sarasota Florida

Thank you for posting is amazing image and thanks even more for the explanation. This is the kind of post I can really learn from!

Victoria1233 Loc: Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Love the lighting.

Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Exceptional!

Georgia Peddler Loc: Brunswick, GA

Great shot. This is one of those shots that if you do not know the story backing it up, you try to envision the circumstances.
Is it his relation? Did he do the deed? Is he vowing vengence? On and on???
Great submission, Thanks

waterbug49307 Loc: All over, currently Big Rapids Michigan

Thank you for sharing your knowledge in the making of this shot, to me it explains alot and I really appreciate it. The photograph is great and the lighting makes the shot.

jk48 Loc: Camarillo, California

worth your efforts...

ftpecktim Loc: MONTANA

Excellent shot and explanation.

cbdigital Loc: Stony Point, N.Y. 10980

This is professional quality. Thanks for posting.

Turbo Loc: Raleigh, NC

great work ! you accomplished that mission well.

Babushka317 Loc: Vermont

FABULOUS...and thank you for your explanation of how you created such a marvelous scene.

Have you entered it in any contests? It belongs in a museum.

GrandmaJoy Loc: North Carolina

You put a lot of thought into that shot and it was well worth it. Thanks for posting.

Tom H Loc: St. Louis, MO

Clearly demonstrates the importance of knowing what your after, having and knowing your equipment, understanding lighting and planning your shot. I would love to develop your level of skill.

Thanks for sharing the shot and the explanation.